Forced Abortion Opponent Chen Guangcheng Is Ill, Collapses

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has received credible reports that Chen Guangcheng is seriously ill, and other members of his family are languishing as well. According to one report, Chen’s second elder brother died of stomach cancer on the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival on January 23. Chen, his wife and mother were not allowed to attend the funeral. A few days later, according to a report by CHRD, Chen was seen to take a few steps in the courtyard. “He looked pale and moved unsteadily. Only a few steps out of the door he fainted and fell to the ground.”

Chen’s wife, Yuan Weijing, also was recently spotted leaning against the interior wall of their courtyard, looking “skinny . . . it seemed that it was difficult for her to move her waist.” Yuan was driven back into the house by guards.

Chen’s mother, in her eighties, became ill during the Spring Festival and has not recovered. She used to go out to buy food for the family. “Since the Spring Festival, Chen’s mother has not come out any more. No one has been seen to send food to Chen Guangcheng’s home. It is hard to imagine how the family is surviving.” Chen’s daughter, Kesi, has also been ill with a high fever.

In addition, the CHRD reports that the security surrounding Chen’s family has increased significantly. There are now seven cameras monitoring Chen’s home. Eight guards have moved into the family courtyard, in addition to the twenty guards that surround the house. Further, vans now block the alley leading to Chen’s home. “For those who live very close to Chen Guangcheng’s home, when they go home, they have to ask the guards to open the door of the van and let them go through the vehicle, just like passing the security.” The Chinese Communist Party also sent an additional 200 guards to watch Chen’s family for two weeks after his brother’s death, to prevent them from visiting his grave.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated: “The Chinese Communist Party’s continuing brutality towards a poor, blind, sick and innocent man is cowardly and depraved. Chen Guangcheng is a hero, for China and for the world – a man of towering courage and valiant endurance. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers demands his unconditional release and immediate medical treatment.”

Chen was arrested for exposing the systematic and massive use of forced abortion and sterilization in Linyi City in 2005.